A chemist in Vienna, Austria spent years studying the lint that collects in a person’s navel, WBBM radio reported Monday. He says he’s discovered the reason it collects there -- it's the hair.

George Steinhauser reports that there’s a certain type of body hair that directs lint to the navel. His conclusions are published in the journal Medical Hypotheses under the title, "The Nature of Navel Fluff."

Steinhauser found that hairs around the belly button are scaly, WBBM reported. The hairs pull fibers from a person’s clothing and then pull them into the belly button.

The article notes: "Accordingly, and to the author's personal experience, navel lint seems to be a phenomenon that affects primarily male adults."

WBBM speculates that it's because women generally do not have hairy bellies? Or, perhaps more likely, it's because women keep their belly buttons clean.